Editor's Note

The Charge

"I refuse to live in a country like this, and I'm not leaving."

The Case

Capitalism: A Love Story is a film that represents Michael Moore at
his very best and very worst. Tying together a handful of themes Moore has been
working with over the years and launching a full-scale attack on the very
foundation of the American economy, Capitalism: A Love Story is by turns
enthralling, enraging, fascinating, and idiotic. My general feeling toward the
film is a positive one, as I find Moore to be an entertaining rabble-rouser and
I personally concur with a lot of the points he is attempting to make. On the
other hand, at times the film reminds me of a favorite quote from Daniel
Dennett: "There's nothing I like less than a bad argument for a view that I
hold dear."

While the solutions to our problems proposed by Moore are a little hazy and
inconsistent, there are moments in which he masterfully manages to illustrate
the problems themselves. I've always found Moore best when he focuses his
efforts on finding ways to illustrate the plight of the oppressed common man
(which is part of why I feel Sicko is his
finest effort to date), and there are numerous sequences in Capitalism
that remind us of why his films can be so very effective at times.

One of these sequences involves Moore exposing a horrific practice in which
companies purchase what they refer to as "dead peasant insurance." A
corporation will take out life insurance policies on many of its employees,
calculating how many employees they expect to pass away within a certain period
of time. When an employee dies, the corporation gets a nice pile of cash.
Meanwhile, the grieving family members receive nothing from the company. It's a
disturbing for-profit exercise that essentially allows corporations to benefit
considerably from the death of their employees. Even more disturbing are reports
from various companies complaining about the fact that not enough employees were
dying to justify the cost of purchasing "dead peasant insurance."

Moore also successfully digs into many other negative side effects of
capitalism, from predatory lending to unethical stock market dealings (a
sequence focusing on the complexities of derivatives is particularly strong
stuff) to the political sway financial institutions hold over many modern-day
politicians (Moore proves to be an equal-opportunity offender in this
department, taking harsh swipes at Chris Dodd and numerous members of the Obama
administration as vigorously as he attacks conservatives throughout the film).
He shows us portions of powerful speeches from Jimmy Carter and Franklin D.
Roosevelt that presciently forewarn Americans of capitalism-induced problems
while proposing socialism-driven solutions.

Alas, every now and then things have a tendency to go south. Moore has a
wide variety of damning facts at his disposal, so why does he insist on so
frequently making arguments that appeal to the emotion rather than to the
intellect? While I realize that an argument of, "We should do this because
it's morally correct," is more powerful from a dramatic perspective, why
bother when you have something so persuasive as, "We should do this because
it's logical and it makes perfect sense." Moore's cinematic grandstanding
becomes a little groan-worthy at times, particularly when he pulls out his
"crime scene" tape and wraps it around financial buildings while
proclaiming that he is about to start making a citizen's arrest. These moments
are less about condemning capitalism than they are about bolstering Moore's
image as a champion of the people. In such lesser moments, Moore's
emotion-driven populism almost begins to resemble the senseless appeals of folks
like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin.

I also grow weary of Moore's false naivete. After having seen Moore in his
films and in countless television interviews, I know for a fact that he is a
very intelligent man with a strong grasp of why things are the way they are in
this country. That's why it starts to get grating when he will attempt to place
himself on the level of the average viewer by responding with gasps and
exclamations at each new fascinating fact he uncovers: "Gosh…I mean,
gee whiz…you mean that capitalism, that thing that we all love so much, is
actually BAD for this country? And socialism can actually be GOOD? That struck
me as really weird. I had to learn more!" I realize that there's a
knowingly jokey tone to all of this, but after a while one begins to wish that
Moore would just stop the pointless self-condescension and level with us about
things.

Is the movie worth watching? You bet. There's a lot of compelling stuff
contained with Capitalism: A Love Story, and like all Moore films this
one is endlessly watchable. The filmmaker continues to demonstrate his skills
both as a master of ceremonies (where he usually comes across as warm and
appealing) and as an entertainer (Moore loves using melodramatic film music
selections to underscore the absurdity of much of his stock footage). Still, one
gets the sense that this could have been one of the great, important
documentaries of the decade. The ammunition is there, but Moore misfires and
misses during moments when he should be lining up his targets and knocking them
down like ducks in a row.

The DVD receives a perfectly solid transfer, warm and detailed during the
new footage and the usual mixed bag in terms of the older archival footage.
Audio is excellent, as Moore does a nice job of mixing his own narration and his
colorful soundtrack. The supplements are mostly the equivalent of deleted
scenes, but there's a lot of good stuff to be found in the mix:

• Sorry, House-Flippers and Banks—You're Toast in Flint, MI
(5 minutes): Moore chats with an old friend about efforts to prevent
neighborhoods in Flint from falling apart due to the thousands of foreclosures
that have taken place in that area.

• Congressman Cummings Dares to Speak the Unspeakable (7
minutes): Moore sits down for a chat with Maryland congressman Elijah Cummings,
who suggests that perhaps the system of capitalism ought to be discarded.

• NYT Pulitzer Prize Winner Chris Hedges on the Killing Machine
Known as Capitalism (9 minutes): Exactly what it sounds like; an impassioned and
precise attack on the self-destructive nature of capitalism.

• The Rich Don't Go to Heaven (There's a Special Place Reserved
for Them) (9 minutes): Moore chats with a Catholic priest, who offers the
opinion that Jesus would most definitely be a socialist and would regard
capitalism as a sin.

• What If, Just If, We Had Listened to Jimmy Carter in 1979? (18
minutes): Snippets of this speech are contained within the film, but the speech
is included in its entirety here. It's a remarkably frank and truthful address
that refuses to pat American citizens on the back and tell them how great they
are. This speech is certainly one of the finer moments of Carter's presidency,
if not exactly a boon to his popularity.

• The Omnivore's Dilemma—It's Capitalism (6 minutes): A
look at how food that's bad for the human body tends to be particularly
profitable for corporations, along with a discussion of organic
alternatives.

• Commie Taxi Drivers—"You Talkin' to
Me?"—In Winsconsin (6 minutes): Some taxi drivers talk about the
benefits of participating in a workers' cooperative.

• How to Run the Place Where You Work (11 minutes): Another
examination of employee-run companies and why they tend to function on a higher
level than many other companies.

• The Socialist Bank of—North Dakota? (5 minutes): A North
Dakota bank explains how their system operates differently from most other banks
in America.

• The Bank Kicks Them Out, Max Kicks Them Back In (11 minutes): A
profile of an attorney who fights to make sure that families who are foreclosed
upon get to stay in their home.

I enjoyed Capitalism: A Love Story, appreciated its essential point,
and would recommend that you give it a look. Still, I remain a bit heartbroken
about the areas in which the documentary fails. Here's hoping that next time Mr.
Moore delivers in that spectacular way that only he can.